Stuck In The Box: Remains Of Awareness

Chapter 4: We Have A Job To Do

The next day, the Wild Boys returned to the hospital as Martin is now on another drug trial. "So the next medication we're trying is Lamictal," Dr Mills said. "But that's not approved yet," Gary said. "That's why we're trying it," Dr Mills said. "I also took that to control my bipolar disorder as well, as a trial medication but now we're waiting for it to be approved which would take a long time," Simon said. "If you're experiencing any symptoms, please tell me," Dr Mills said. "Actually, I have a rash on my chest and I have a headache," Martin said, wincing with the pain on his head. Dr Mills then grabbed a thermometre and proceeded to check his temperature. "Your fever is high, how about your neck?" Dr Mills asked. Martin then tried to move his neck but was in pain when doing so.

"What's going on?" Bono asked. "Probably showing signs of meningitis, I need to get a lumbar puncture," Dr Mills said. "Wait, I had viral meningitis before, I'm really certain that he's showing signs of it right now," Larry said. "But for us to be certain, we need to do a lumbar puncture," Dr Mills said before leaving the room. Larry nodded, familiar with lumbar punctures because he had meningitis before. In general, he knew a lot of medical stuff due to his frequent hospital stays. Dr Mills soon came back with Dr Hayley, Dr Chen, Dr O'Connor and Dr Lynch with him as they try to give Martin a lumbar puncture. "Martin, you need to try and sit up, I know it's hard but can you please cooperate?" Dr Hayley asked. Martin tried but he became dizzy and the pain in his head spiked.

Dr Mills then began the lumbar puncture after untying Martin's hospital gown and applying local anesthesia on his back. As soon as the procedure was over, Dr Mills took the tube of spinal fluid to the lab while the other doctors fixed Martin's gown and laid him back down on his bed. "How are you feeling, Martin?" Dr Lynch asked. "Horrid," Martin said. "It'll get better, I promise," Dr Chen said. Martin just fell asleep, feeling extremely exhausted even though he hasn't done anything yet. "Hey, I looked at the spinal fluid and it looks cloudy," Larry said. "And what does that mean?" Adam asked. "That means meningitis," Kate said. "Let me guess, your dad's a doctor?" Adam asked. "Yup, I've been studying a lot of medical stuff so that I could work as a doctor," Kate said.

"Not an artist or musician or dancer or something?" Maddy asked. "Yeah, those are hobbies," Kate said. "Anyways, since cloudy spinal fluid means that you have meningitis, Dr Mills should be back with it soon," Larry said. "And how do you know it was meningitis?" Nik asked. "I had it before," Larry said. Gary then went up to Martin and sat by his bedside. He hadn't seen his younger brother this ill before, even after his brain tumours were removed and is on drug trial. He had severe side effects from the medication due to being an alien-hybrid. "Dr Hayley, why do alien-hybrids always get sick from certain medicines? Like one dose it's fatal," Gary asked. "I dunno how to explain it if I'm being honest but it could be because your immune systems are enhanced, they sometimes can't accept the medication and attack it as if it were a virus," Dr Hayley said.

"Like Nicky's asthma, was it the result of a side effect?" Gary asked. "Yeah, because of the beta-blockers, Nicky developed severe asthma," Dr Hayley said. "And the immunosuppressants?" Gary asked. "The reason why they cause an autoimmune response is because an alien-hybrid's immune system is very strong and they cause it to go haywire and attack healthy organs, usually the ones affected by illness," Dr Hayley explained. "That makes so much sense," Gary said. "But what if we're healthy and not sick and we accidentally take those?" Nena asked. "It'll affect the digestive system first and then the respiratory system and so on and so forth," Dr Hayley said. "Wasn't John previously healthy?" Tony asked. "Tony, I have asthma so I'm practically ill so that's why my immune system attacked my lungs and my heart because of heart defects," John (Taylor) said.

Andy then went up to Martin and laid his head on his chest. "Do you always do that?" Gary asked. "Yeah, I did that to John when he was in a coma, back when we used to date," Andy said. "It's all good, I'm just glad Andy's independent," John (Taylor) said. "Great, thought you had beef or something," Gary said in relief. "We broke up on good terms," Andy said. "As much as I like it when you date my brother, I'd love to have another little brother," Gary said, ruffling Andy's bangs. He couldn't help but laugh at the height gap between Andy and Martin. He even wondered if Andy is into guys who are way taller than him. Dr Mills soon came back with the results of the spinal tap. "So I got some bad news, Martin has aseptic meningitis," Dr Mills said.